Cross Oceans
by Androidxs
Summary: When a navy ship goes missing, NCIS Special Agents have no idea what is waiting for them when they find it. Called into action as part of their job, they soon become tied with the case in more ways then they could ever imagine.
1. Chapter 1

The sickly stench of human waste filled the dark, small container they were held in. No light could enter, no sounds could escape. Fifteen year old Hannah sat, curled up in a ball with her brother on her feet, in a corner of the blue metal shipping container where they were pushed in at gunpoint. They had been on holiday in South France, renting a villa by the luscious sands of Cote d'Azur. Now, her family, lay covered in sweat, urine and blood. Her father was shot before entering the container - the first day he spent panting rapidly, desperately trying to draw in some of the musty air. Her mother had tried what she could, but silence fell over him. After that, her mother gave up. She didn't eat the food that was left for them, she didn't fight with the other families for the little water available at first. It took three days. Three days in the excruciating heat, that was the shipping container in the day, to destroy half a family. Hannah was left with her little brother, James. Both were filth ridden. Both were scared. Both had cried, wondering when it would all be over. Now they were five days into the journey, other families around them had suffered losses, other families understood their pain. But they sat alone. The ones with no-one left sat in silence, dark looks of dampness about their eyes. The sickly stench of human waste filled the dark, small container they were held in. No light could enter, no sounds could escape. Fifteen year old Hannah sat, curled up in a ball, in a corner of the blue metal shipping container where they were pushed in at gunpoint. They had been on holiday in South France, renting a villa by the luscious sands of Cote d'Azur. Now, her family – the ones that were alive, lay covered in sweat, urine and blood. Her father was shot before entering the container - the first day he spent panting rapidly, desperately trying to draw in some of the musty air. Her mother had tried what she could, but silence fell over him. After that, her mother gave up. She didn't eat the food that was left for them, she didn't fight with the other families for the little water available at first. It took three days. Three days in the excruciating heat, that was the shipping container in the day, to destroy half a family. Hannah was left with her little brother, James. Both were filth ridden. Both were scared. Both had cried, wondering when it would all be over. Now they were five days into the journey, other families around them had suffered losses, other families understood their pain. But they sat alone. The ones with no-one left sat in silence, dark looks of terror about their eyes. Hannah held on tightly to Jamie. No food was left now, nor any water. If they were intended to survive to reach their destination then they must be getting close. Jamie shivered in her arms as Hannah tried holding him still, muttering the words, "It will all be alright." in his ears over and over again. A young baby had started to cry in the corner of the container. Hannah looked up. It was trying to attach itself to it's mother's breast. It's mother sat unresponsively against the tall metal wall. Now wailing louder, other members of the group were looking up at the crying. No-one was sure what to do. Hannah eased Jamie away from her, pushing his sweat ridden brow out of his blue eyes. She left him curled up against the wall. He watched her sillouhette as she crossed the shipping container, passing over wet sticky patches on the ground, dark shapes of discarded clothing and the bodies of those that had fallen. She reached out a fading hand to the woman and gently pushed her shoulder. Nothing. She felt for her neck with her fingers to try and find a pulse. None.

"She's dead." Hannah rasped. Uncaring and unresponsive eyes met these words. Then a man stood up, fairly large in stature, now alone since his partner had fallen into unconsciouness or death. He crossed over the container to join Hannah. He looked down at the baby and raised a fist. "NO!" Hannah shouted, reverberations echoing around them. She jumped up and grabbed his arm, pulling it back. The man flung her onto the floor. Weakly, she dragged herself back up and dived infront of the baby, taking an almighty blow to the stomach, where the babies head had been moments before. The man above her grunted and the baby continued to wail.

"He'll only make the guards angry!" The man roared at Hannah.

"And you will become a murderer for your survival?" She screamed back. He stopped, his eyes wide open.

"This baby will die anyway without his mother." The main said, trying to pull Hannah off again.

"We were meant to survive. They gave us food. Now it's run out, we can't be far off." Hannah said, echoing any feelings of hope that any survivor's still had. The man's arms suddenly went much weaker as he sighed and went back to where he sat. Hannah picked up the baby and placed her finger in it's mouth to stop it's crying, even if she couldn't help it's hunger. She took him over to Jamie and sat down again, one cradled in each arm. Jamie looking up at the baby every so often.

"What's his name?" Jamie said eventually.

"I don't know." Hannah replied, deciding against naming him. With no name, there was no attachment.


	2. Chapter 2

Senior field agent Anthony "Tony" Dinozzo sat inside the black chairs and flashing walls of MTAC. He reached his arms up to the air stretching his back after sitting in the cushioned chair for half an hour. He ruffled his dark brown hair before leaning back down into the chair. Next to him, Special Agent Ziva David sat in an NCIS ball cap, it turned down over her face as her hands clasped over her stomach. Her chest moved slowly up and down as she slept lightly in the chair. Both Special Agents had been sitting for the past thirty minutes waiting for their boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, head of their Major Case Response Team. Tony coughed, clearing his throat. Ziva woke with a start, pulling the cap off of her head and looking around the room. Her hand was on top of the gun she kept in the holster that was fitted around her waist. She sighed as a smile broke open on his face. Ziva groaned after realising it was Tony. Moving her hand away from the gun, she lifted it up and hit Tony on the knee. Looking offended, Tony was about to throw the empty coffee cup next to him at her when they heard the slamming of the door to MTAC opening. The dark grey metal slammed shut as Gibb's walked into the room. Immediately, both Ziva and Tony stood up watching as Gibbs passed down the slope into the main MTAC room.

"Hey, Boss." Tony said, waiting for him to explain why he had called them to the usually full and operational MTAC room. Gibbs nodded, a styrofoam coffee cup in his hand. He stopped at the bottom of the slope and took a sip. They looked at Gibb's expectantly who sat down on one of the chairs. Ziva and Tony sat either side of him, still wondering.

"McGee is contacting us through MTAC. The rest of the staff are not here as this case is strictly private and confidential. Do you understand?" Ziva nodded.

"Of course, Boss." Tony mumbled.

"Yes, Gibbs." Ziva agreed, giving a cue for him to continue.

"I sent McGee over to the Washington Airport this morning with Ducky and Palmer. Three bodies washed up on shore in South France dressed in US Navy Uniform." Ziva and Tony sat, with much more understanding about why their co-worker Timothy McGee didn't appear at work this morning and hadn't spent the time waiting in MTAC with them. "This is our case. It's high profile – their boat has gone missing and there should be another 19 crew members aboard according that mission file. It was a routine operation of escorting weapons to the UK. The boat checked in and the weapons were delivered, it has since gone missing. It was NOT an arms deal. We need to find that boat and the other crew members. It's been missing for 5 days, scheduled to land today at the docks. It was reported after no contact was made in two days. That leaves a definite 3 day time period that this boat has been missing." Gibbs paused and reached for a dial on the high tech equipment on the MTAC silver disk. He turned it around and the word "Dialling..." pulsated up on the screen infront of the agents. After a few seconds, McGee's plump face appeared on the screen.

"Hey boss, Ziva. Tony." McGee's hair lay ruffled from the wind on his head as he looked at Gibbs waiting for him to say something.

"Well? McGee?" Asked Gibbs eventually.

"Oh, right." McGee murmered, "Well, the three John Does reported are all in navy uniform. Badges indicate there were two lieutenants and a commander. Ducky's prelims suggest COD were gunshot wounds in each body. TOD is hard to determine because of the water, but he's breaking them back to NCIS to get a better idea." McGee finished and looked at his colleagues on the screen.

"What about the people that found them?" Ziva asked, folding her arms. McGee pulled out a small black notebook from somewhere off of the screen and opened it to begin to read.

"Couple. Mr and Mrs Flannikan. Lived down here since they got married 13 years ago. Were out walking with their dogs when they found the bodies. Called the police first who referred them to us"

"Anything else, probee?" Dinozzo questioned.

"Not really. Only the bodies and what's on them. If their from a navy ship - none are operating around here - they've had a long way to wash up from. The evidence will be somewhere else."

"Good job, McGee." Gibbs said. McGee nodded and the screen went black. He looked at his other two agents. "We need to find that boat." Gibbs nodded abrubtly and then left the room, leaving Ziva and Tony.

"We have MTAC. Let's look at satellite pictures." Tony suggested.


	3. Chapter 3

"Here, Boss." Dinozzo said to Gibbs handing him a small black USB stick. Gibbs stared at it.

"What's that?" He asked looking up at Tony.

"Er..." Tony began, dumbfounded by Gibbs' lack of knowledge around technology. "It's a USB stick, Boss. It stores informa -"

"I know that, Dinozzo. What's on it?" Gibbs replied frustratedly.

"Oh." Dinozzo said, embarassed as he heard Ziva chuckle behind him. "It's the latest satellite pictures we could find of the ship." Tony continued, still holding out the data.

"Get it up on the plasma screen." Instructed Gibbs as he gesticulated towards one of the screens in the main office area where they now sat.

The main office was very large – much larger than the MTAC room that they were previously in. Despite this, it was shared with the thirty plus other NCIS workers including two other teams of Special Agents – one being the secondary response unit and the other being minor cases. Each of the teams and groups were separated by dark grey partitions, while a red LED sign scrolled across stating the latest news with regards to NCIS intelligence and daily news. At the far end the letters, "NCIS" were written in silver embollished block capitals and below were 10 pictures under the caption of, "NCIS Most Wanted" where each face glared out at the officers – some less threatening with large red crosses covering their faces.

Tony threw the USB stick to Ziva, hoping to catch her off guard. However, due to her Mossad training she caught it. Tony, who was secretly disappointed, sulked off to one of the Plasma TV screens and picked up the remote laying discarded next to it as Ziva plugged the USB into her computer and loaded the file that they had spent the previous few hours locating.

The image of a vast ocean flitted up on the screen. A white label appeared stating that it was the atlantic. The latitude and longitude were stated alongside it. Tony pressed a button on the remote and the ocean's waves became clearer as the image zoomed in. Two lines, one vertical and one horizontal appeared on the screen, pinpointing a fleck of white in the ocean. The boat – the only one around for miles – was sitting in the Atlantic. As they zoomed in once more, the helipad and vast shipping containers became visible.

"This is the closest we could get, Gibbs." Ziva said. "But we tracked it over the previous 72 hours of satellite footage." She snatched the remote out of Tony's hand who looked hurt as she walked away from him. She pressed a button and a similar photo was displayed with the latitude being the only difference. Three clicks later something other than the latitude had changed. The image was now of the entire ocean, starting at where they had shipped off from in the US. A yellow line appeared, leaving from the coast and stretching out across the ocean. It reached Britain.

"At expected time." Ziva added as they continued with their presentation to Gibbs. "It continued to run according to the Navy timetable until here." The yellow line reached a French coast line. "This is Cote D'azure." It shipped there for several hours then left on a new route." The line continued, heading back on itself towards America. It stopped, roughly 350 miles off of the coast line. Gibbs looked at the image intensely.

"When was the last image taken?" He asked, not moving his eyes.

"1 hour ago, Boss."

"If we assume that boat is going at 40 knots – that's just under 50 miles per hour – it'll be nearly 50 miles closer to the coast line. When is the next update of the satellite images?" Gibbs asked, breaking off from his trail of thought.

"At 3pm, Boss." Tony replied, holding up his watch which stated that it was now 1.15pm. His stomach rumbled as he brought his arm back to his side.

"That boat is heading towards this country, Dinozzo. We're gonna meet it. At 3pm you get that new image, do you hear?"  
"Yes, Boss." Tony replied.

"Gibbs, by that time the boat will be only 200 miles until it lands on shore – that is 4 hours. How are we going to reach it in time if it's out of state?" Ziva asked, speaking quickly about the potential flaw in the case with her Israeli lilt.

"Make sure the chopper is ready." Gibbs replied simply, unnerved by Ziva's worry. "For now, I want you to find out what the boat was doing in France. I need to get coffee." With those words, Gibbs stood up and headed towards the open doors of the elevator tucked in the corner of the office. "McGee should be headed back soon." He called over his shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

"Where do we start?" Dinozzo asked himself aloud, now sitting back on his black leather swivel chair behind a computer.

"I am phoning the French Coastguard authority to see what happened when that boat landed." Ziva said, scrolling down a webpage on the computer in her office space opposite Tony's.

"I will phone the police in that province." Tony decided, leeching off of Ziva's inspiration. He sat up and tapped the space bar on the keyboard of his computer to get it off of the screen saver. He opened the internet and started to browse for the right phone number while Ziva started dialling the number that she had found on the other side of the room.

"Hello?" Ziva asked down the phone after hearing the click of the reciever being picked up. "My name is Ziva David, a special agent at NCIS in America." Tony stopped paying attention to his screen to look over at her. There was no way he was going to let her get the "Good Job" off of Gibbs this time. Spurred on, he looked back at the computer screen and ran a search for "Cote D'azur". Many holiday pages flicked up, so Tony ammended the search for Cote D'azur police. A hit for their local station came up along with a contact page which Tony clicked on immediately and scrolled down to find the number which he began to press in to the phone pad to his right. As the dialling rang out he looked down at the clock to see that it was nearly 1.30pm. Making a resolution to go down to the cafeteria after the call, he looked across at Ziva while the rhythmic ringing continued in his left ear. Ziva was still on the phone, asking questions – judging from her aggressive demure – and taking down notes in a pad that lay open on the table. While Tony was straining to hear what she was saying, he heard the sudden click of a connection from his phone which made him jump as the voice introduced itself.

"Bonjour, vous avez atteint service de police de Cote D'azure. Je m'appelle Lucielle. Puis je vous aider?" Tony's mouth dropped, not used to dealing with cases from other languages he had forgotten that they would most likely not be speaking English.

"Bonjour," Tony began, flapping his arms at Ziva to try and get her linguistic skills to help him as she had now hung up the phone. She smiled at him and watched as he continued. "Je m'appelle Tony. Je NCIS Special Agent a America. Vous helper me?" Tony repeated what he said, louder and more slowly. Ziva tried not to giggle on the other side of their office space as Tony heard the voice at the other end of the phone talk to another person next to them.

"Anglais? English?" She asked, laughing slightly.

"Oui – yes." Tony said, relieved that she understood. "My name is Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo, from NCIS in America."

"Oh." The voice came, short from her French accent. "Can I... help... you?" The woman said in fragmented words.

"Yes," Tony began, "We are investigating a missing Navy Ship and satellite pictures have shown that-"

"Sir, I do not understand." The woman said, "My colleague is going to talk you. I sorry." Tony listened as the phone changed hands. He looked up again at Ziva who was now uninterested in what was going on so was reading through her notes.

"Hello, Sir. My name is Emily. How can I help you?" Her voice spoke down the phone. Ziva listened as Tony cracked a joke and flirted with the woman. Aware of how much time they had, Ziva was anxious to get the information. She picked up her notebook and hurled it across to Tony, who it hit squarely on the head. He stood up, looking more hurt than he probably was and pulling the phone away from his ear, yelped, "What was that for?"

"Get back to the case, Tony." Ziva said, quietly. Tony sat back down rubbing his head and apologising down the phone line. "I'm going to get some lunch." Ziva finally said, unsure of what to do in the wait between the satellite images being updated and Tony finishing his phone call. Tony waved her away mouthing the word "Tacos" and pulling out his wallet. He handed her a $10 bill and she took it and pressed the button for the lift.

"So, were there any crimes reported 3 days ago?" Dinozzo asked, having finally convinced the authority behind the phone that he was eligible to know the information. The voice returned little information.

"From that day, we have several muggings and thefts – all typical of a tourist area. A breaking and entering and a report of a missing girl from her family on holiday – which the coastguard is dealing with given she disappeared on the beach." Tony thought for a minute.

"No murders? Or excess people turn up?" The woman sounded thoughtful for a minute.

"No, but you can try the American Embassy if you worry about extras." Tony thanked the woman, noting down what she had said and then hung up.

Tony watched as the doors finally opened for Ziva. McGee tumbled out of the very full elevator that was a custom for their lunch hour. He walked towards their desks with his black rucksack and a brown box of evidence that he must have collected at the crime scene. Tony tactfully ignored him, pretending to be too engrossed in the computer where he was now researching the American Embassy in France. McGee looked around their area.

"Tony?" He said, only to be ignored. "Tony?" He asked again, louder. Tony glared at him, feigning that he had been deeply involved with what he was doing.

"Yes. Probee?" He replied, trying to look annoyed.

"Well, I was wondering what happened to Gibbs and Ziva." Tony sat back in his chair and stretched, giving a loud, audible sigh and placing his hands behind his head. Tony toyed with the idea of teasing him further, but decided against it, realising that Gibbs had now been gone for half an hour so could reappear at any time.

"Gibbs went out for coffee and Ziva went to get lunch." He sat forward in his chair again, finally reading the embassy number. McGee looked awkward, standing in his brown overcoat, with nothing to do.

"Hello, this is Anthony Dinozzo, Special Agent and NCIS. I am investigating a case and was wondering whether you've had any information, or people, within the last few days regarding Naval Officers?" McGee walked off to his own desk which was next to Tony's and opposite Gibbs'. Unlike Tony's, it was much tidier, however unlike Gibbs' it also contained some photos of his family. After pushing his bag underneath, safely, he picked up the brown cardboard box with the victim's uniform and walked past Tony to the stairwell. Down one floor, he entered the large, glass windowed and walled room. Inside, loud music blared out of some speakers and a black haired woman with pigtails and tattoos sat in a lab coat, fiddling with a piece of machinery known as a mass spectrometer.

McGee knocked and entered through the glass door, one hand underneath the box.

"Abby?" He called out over the music. The girl known as Abby turned around and smiled, taking off the goggles that she wore. "Can you analyse these?" He called out, trying to make himself heard. Abby looked confused as she tried to comprehend what he had just said.

"Speak louder, McGee." She yelled in a gruff voice.

"I said, can you analyse these?" He shouted much louder.

"Analyse?" Abby shouted back, smiling at getting McGee to play along. "Sure." McGee handed Abby the box, wishing he could get out of the room – he didn't like the loud music. As soon as he saw she had signed for it, he thanked her and left hastily back up the stairwell he had come down.


	5. Chapter 5

Back in the main office, Gibbs was now back with a cup of coffee from the shop around the corner. Ziva, who still hadn't returned from going to buy herself and Tony lunch, had left her desk abandoned. Gibbs was leaning on it, discussing what Tony had found on the phone.

"Nothing." Tony declared, exhaling loudly. "Absolutely nothing."

"Nothing, Dinozzo?" Gibbs repeated, looking at him.

"No, Boss. I phoned the police and American Embassy. No new people, no murders, only a couple of routine disappearances on the beach which were dealt with by the coast guard. Ziva phone the coast guard but she's off for lunch."

"Alright." Grunted Gibbs. He looked at McGee, hoping for a better report.

"Well, er, Boss. " McGee stumbled over his words.

"Yes, McGee?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

"We got the uniform. And bits of debris – but that might be not be connected. So, nothing. Abby's analysing it." Gibbs looked frustrated as he threw his coffee cup into the bin.

"I'm going down to see Ducky." Gibbs called over his shoulder to the special agents who sat waiting for 3pm to come and for Ziva to return with their lunch.

Gibbs rounded the corner to the elevator and heard it ping as it clattered to a halt at his floor. It was empty inside apart from the lone figure of Ziva, carrying a brown paper bag which smelt of greasy fast food. She smiled at Gibbs as they switched places and was about to open her mouth when Gibbs cut across.

"Eat lunch. I'll be back in a few." She nodded silently and vanished around the corner to join Tony and McGee. Gibbs got out of the lift and walked through the glass paneled doors leading to autopsy. He pushed them open and walked into the cool, air conditioned room.

"Hey Duck." Gibbs said, smiling at one of his oldest friends.

"Oh, hello, Jethro." Replied the portly figure of Ducky, the pathologist for NCIS. He wore surgical gloves and a pair of blue scrub as he bent over a body that lay on the mortuary slab. Another two were further along, each on their own slab. Gibbs moved closer to look at what Ducky was doing and saw Ducky's untidy scrawl on three toe tags, each stating "John Doe" and then a separate number to identify them.

"Anything yet, Duck?"

"Jethro, they have barely been in here for 5 minutes. Do let the dead rest." Ducky replied, acting slightly flustered. He began to tie one of the tags to the body that was closest. The pale white skin was nearly colourless from the death and shriveled from the water. "The way you wander into expecting things done in timing only a magician could make astounds me." He stopped tying the string and looked up at Gibbs, smiling.

"How long?" Gibbs asked, bringing Ducky's attention back to the corpse.

"I'll send up the notes as soon as I'm done." Ducky said. "But for now, it looks like preliminary cause of death is exsanguination from a bullet wound on all three. Oddly, this reminds me of a case back when. -"

"Thanks, Duck." Gibbs cut across, not wanting to hear the story at that moment in time. He left the same way he had come in and decided to rejoin his team upstairs.

Tony was sitting behind his desk, a burrito clenched in his hands, his mouth full. McGee was typing up the beginnings to a case report on his computer while Ziva also a burrito, but with much better manners.

"Well then?" Gibbs called. Tony stood up.

"Fell Boff, Sifa..."

"Tony!" Ziva exclaimed at having just been sprayed by the insides of Tony's mouth as his tried to speak.

"Ziva first." Gibbs said, to restore order.

"I phoned the coast guards and found 4 missing families, and another 19 people reported. Far above the routine. I have details of the families from the hotels and 13 of the 19 people from their families. The coastguard had blamed adventurous families as their skategoat."

"Scapegoat." Tony corrected, his mouth now empty of burrito. Ziva looked confused for a minute and then accepted it without argument, for once.

"I put a profile for each person together based on what we have. Two families are Spanish, one American and one English. I am going to contact their homes for a picture." Ziva handed the copies of the file to each of the other agents in their office area who took and and began to read. They skimmed through it, looking at photos of the residents of the area and a single family photo – the English family – smiling, grinning and waving at the camera from the beach where they sat basking in the sun.

"What's the time?" Gibbs piped up, breaking the respectful and morbidly intrigued silence.

"3pm." McGee replied after checking his wristwatch.

"Let's go." Gibbs said leading the team back up the MTAC.


	6. Chapter 6

She wasn't sure how many people were left now. Another day had passed. Jamie was asleep or unconscious, still breathing softly – Hannah made sure of that as she stroked his hair. In her left arm was the baby, still moving but very delayed. A loud clunking sound came from near where they knew the entrance and exit to be. She looked up as a shaft of light entered the shipping container, illuminating the few bodies and flagged down, emaciated people. Her eyes ached as the pupils constricted rapidly, trying to cope with the first bit of light in 5 days. She could vaguely make out the shape of a dark silhouette standing in the door way. As her eyes became clearer she could see the figure was holding a gun, like the one that had shot her father. He walked in the container and his feet clunked as he stepped forwards.

"You." He said, pointing his gun at Hannah. She shuffled away from Jamie and placed the baby on his lap as he woke to watch the movement. All remaining open eyes were on the man. "Come with me. I have food." Hannah stood up, not knowing how much longer they would be in there. She was fairly sure her original idea was wrong – they didn't care whether they lived or died.

Hannah reentered the shipping container an hour later. Silent. Hopeless. Her pockets stuffed with food and a cannister of water which she shared around the people who were still conscious. It seemed there were more than she first thought, but that didn't matter. Anything was better than nothing. The cannister was handed back with some water still in it. She gave it to the baby who squirmed. Perhaps he was happy.


	7. Chapter 7

"Two ships?" Gibbs asked his Special Agents who looked as blankly as he did at the screen.

"Transfer? Smuggling perhaps?" Ziva volunteered. Tony and McGee had their heads cocked to one side trying to understand why there could be two ships, pulled up side by side.

"Zoom in." Gibbs instructed. McGee tapped away on a key board producing a magnified image. On the back of the new ship was a large crane. "They're used for lifting shipping crates. Like the ones on deck." Gibbs pointed out. Smuggling will be a good bet."

"It left US soil, right, Boss?" Asked McGee, now looking less confused.

"Yes." Gibbs said.

"So it should have filled out the paperwork." McGee finished simply.

"I'm on it." Tony said, looking back at the footage from midday to trace the new ship. They saw it enter a coastal dock yard. Tony noted down the location and then hurried out of the room. Gibbs rounded on McGee and Ziva.

"Alert special forces. If this is smuggling, we don't know what they're into or what they've got to fight us with." Ziva nodded.

"Will do, Gibbs." She then followed Tony's path, leaving just McGee and Gibbs.

"Well, McGee?"

"Well what, Boss?" McGee questioned, confounded by Gibbs' question.

"Work." Gibbs grunted. McGee, looking suddenly flustered, followed the path of Tony and Ziva back to their desks. The room was now empty apart from Gibbs, who sighed loudly and slumped back into the chair. It is going to be a long day, he thought, as he contemplated what would happen next.

Down in the office, Tony sat on the telephone, speaking to a dock manager. Ziva was sat behind her desk, also on the telephone, organising a special unit to join them in meeting the ship. McGee was also at his desk, his equipment now put away. He looked down to see a post-it note and the phrase, "Evidence Analysed! Courtesy of Ms S Pectrometer." He smiled lightly and walked down to the lab.

Inside the lab, the music was now turned off. Abby sat behind a computer screen, clicking wildly. "What game?" McGee asked.

"Dungeon Stormers 9." Abby replied without looking away. McGee watched her for a while before looking around the work tops of the lab. A manilla folder sat on top of the box which he had brought her earlier.

McGee pointed to it and called over,"I'll sign for it and take it down to the locker."

"Sure thing." Abby called back from across the lab, still engrossed in her game. McGee left her to destroy an orc with her sword of minor dexterity. McGee got into the lift to head down to the basement of the building. Here, a large metal grate blocked off an area where hundreds of boxes were arranged onto metal shelves. A woman sat outside with a laptop and a stack of paperwork. Her glasses balanced precariously on her nose.

"This is for Gibbs' new case." McGee said, handing her the box. She signed it and handed him the folder from the top.

"He'll be wanting that." She sniffed at him. McGee nodded and headed back upstairs.

"Where is he?" Ziva asked.

"Who?" Tony replied, both having finished their telephone conversations.

"Gibbs." Ziva replied, agitated at their bosses absence.

"You're right. We're doing all the work." Tony replied, laughing. McGee walked into the office, hearing the conversation. He laughed, causing both Ziva and Tony to turn around and look it him. Staring them in the face was Gibbs. He slapped each of them behind their head causing pained looks and rubbing.

"I was in MTAC sorting some stuff out." He growled.. "What've you got?"

"The, er, boat, Boss, it's heading back to bay for 1700 hours."

"Where?" Gibbs demanded.

"Down in Virginia."  
"Let's go. Get special forces to meet us there." Gibbs ordered as the the team grabbed their bags.

"Chopper?" Tony asked, pushing on his sun glasses.

"Yup." Gibbs replied, taking his gun out from the desk drawer where he kept it when it wasn't needed.


	8. Chapter 8

A helicopter was flying above them, not unusual for the docks, but this one was Special Ops. Gibbs waved it down onto a helipad usually used for transporting goods. Ten men, each in dark uniform, with machine guns, got out and lined up along the helicopter. Another man got out. This man had a yellow stripe on his shoulder to represent himself as the team leader. Gibbs approached him and held out a hand.

"Special Agent Gibbs." Gibbs called over the sound of the now slowing helicopter blades.

"Special Ops Aramade." The man called back, stretching the strap of his black helmet as he spoke. He greeted Gibbs hand with his own and shook it. "Whats the situation?" He shouted, as his men continued to stand in a row.

"Smuggling – we think. Navy ship got hijacked on a routine operation in Europe, another ship from here went out to meet it. I imagine that Navy ship will be in flames by now. We're waiting out on the new ship to come in. If you and your men can hide in positions for now – we want to catch them." Gibbs yelled to the Special Ops officer. "Radio frequency 102.6." Gibbs added as an after thought.

"We'll follow your lead, Sir." Aramade replied as he fiddled with the dial on his small radio, leading up to his ear and turning to his men to direct them to well chosen and tactical positions around the crowded docks.

Gibbs rejoined his team who stood around the grubby dock owner, looking at the paperwork he had provided for them and asking the occasional question. The owner had a strong southern accent which responded to each question with an air of sarcasm. Gibbs could see McGee, Ziva and Tony getting more unresponsive and uncaring with every answer that he gave. Time to intervene, he thought.

"McGee, Ziva, Dinozzo." Gibbs barked. "Over here." They followed Gibbs' order and took a few steps towards him, waving away the owner. "Out of sight, when it docks, we take it. Got that?" He asked to a trio of nods.

"Gun out, Probee." Dinozzo said to McGee as he reached into his holster and pulled out the pistol given to him as an NCIS agent. Gibbs pointed out areas for each of his team to hide and, after ensuring that they all had the correct radio frequency, he left to find his own hiding place.


	9. Chapter 9

"Visual on target." Came a crackly voice over the radio. The wait had been tense, and Gibbs' gut was churning as during every mission. This is it, he thought.

"Let them dock, then get on board." Gibbs responded.

"10-4" Came about 3 static ridden replies. The ship got nearer, smaller than the navy ship. The previous images they had showed many shipping crates. Now one remained on the quarter deck. Big, blue. Whatever they were smuggling must be expensive to have so little of it. A huge screeching sounded as it got closer. Men on board shouted, throwing landing lines onto the flag stone of the dock floor. Finally, a ramp was unloaded onto the stones with a definitive thud.

"On board." Came one reply over the radio, this time hushed but still crackly with the static in the air.

"Hold your position." Gibbs replied, ducking out from under the shipping container he stood behind and edging along the side of the buildings next to the dock. He heard footsteps as he saw Dinozzo and McGee moving forward through the scraps of old ships.

"On board." Came another response. Female – Ziva – as she was the only woman there.

"Hold your position." Gibbs repeated. "How many people can you see?"

"Three sorting out the landing. Heavy rifles." Ziva replied.

"On the ship." Came another voice.

"Taking the ramps." Gibbs called. "Take them now!" He ran forwards, Dinozzo and McGee joining him. Each had their pistols out stretched with a finger held onto the trigger. The men closest to the edge of the ship began shouting.

"Police! Police! Cast off!" The ran about, trying to disconnect the ramp. Gibbs hastily made for it with McGee and Dinozzo in his wake. He jumped on and clambered up. Seeing him approach, the grubby and unshaven man pulled out his rifle. Gibbs squeezed the cold metal of the trigger and an almighty boom echoed across the water. More booms echoed across. Gibbs was obviously not the only one to have been spotted.

"Take the left with McGee." Gibbs barked at Tony who nodded and took a left at the top of the ramp with McGee following him. Gibbs took left and saw Ziva standing over a man, her foot on his chest. He jogged over.

"...mess with me again!" Ziva finished. Gibbs paused, with a smile on his face.

"Coming to join us, Ziva?" Gibbs asked. She looked up, slightly embarassed and smiled before nodding and continuing down Gibbs' planned route. She followed his silver hair down into the lower bounds of the ship where they could hear more gunfire. Automatics.

"Hopefully, that is the Special Ops." Ziva said, voicing her concern. Gibbs remained silent as he stepped forward. His feet clunked across the metal of the floor that led up onto the walls.

"Targets neutralised." Came one voice.

"Same here." Came Tony's familiar twang.

"And here." McGee piped up, also indicating that they must have become separated.

"NCIS pull out." Gibbs instructed. "Let Special Ops sweep the ship for any others."Gibbs turned on his heel. Ziva squeaked slightly as she looked at him, panic in her eyes. A hand was clasped over her mouth and a gun pointed at her. The arm had pulled her infront of his body. Gibbs had no shot. His mouth was open in surprise.

"Put zee goon down" The voice spat. Gibbs looked again, hoping for a miraculous area to be left unattended. Nothing. The voice echoed around his brain as he wondered what to do.

"Now." The voice said again. Gibbs bent down to place his gun on the ground, leaving him unarmed and Ziva unprotected.


End file.
